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Activation of T and natural killer (NK) cells leads to the tyrosine phosphorylation of pp36 and to its association with several signaling molecules, including phospholipase Cgamma-1 and Grb2. Microsequencing of peptides derived from purified rat pp36 protein led to the cloning, in rat and man, of cDNA encoding a T- and NK cell-specific protein with several putative Src homology 2 domain-binding motifs. A rabbit antiserum directed against a peptide sequence from the cloned rat molecule recognized tyrosine phosphorylated pp36 from pervanadate-treated rat thymocytes. When expressed in 293T human fibroblast cells and tyrosine-phosphorylated, pp36 associated with phospholipase Cgamma-1 and Grb2. Studies with GST-Grb2 fusion proteins demonstrated that the association was specific for the Src homology 2 domain of Grb-2. Molecular cloning of the gene encoding pp36 should facilitate studies examining the role of this adaptor protein in proximal signaling events during T and NK cell activation.

Objective: The astroglial enzyme glutamine synthetase (GS) is deficient in small loci in the brain in adult patients with different types of focal epilepsy; however, the role of this deficiency in the pathogenesis of epilepsy has been difficult to assess due to a lack of sufficiently sensitive and specific animal models. The aim of this study was to develop an in vivo approach for precise and specific deletions of the GS gene in the postnatal brain., Methods: We stereotaxically injected various adeno-associated virus (AAV)-Cre recombinase constructs into the hippocampal formation and neocortex in 22-70-week-old GS flox/flox mice to knock out the GS gene in a specific and focal manner. The mice were subjected to seizure threshold determination, continuous video-electroencephalographic recordings, advanced in vivo neuroimaging, and immunocytochemistry for GS., Results: The construct AAV8-glial fibrillary acidic protein-green fluorescent protein-Cre eliminated GS in >99% of astrocytes in the injection center with a gradual return to full GS expression toward the periphery. Such focal GS deletion reduced seizure threshold, caused spontaneous recurrent seizures, and diminished functional connectivity., Significance: These results suggest that small loci of GS deficiency in the postnatal brain are sufficient to cause epilepsy and impaired functional connectivity. Additionally, given the high specificity and precise spatial resolution of our GS knockdown approach, we anticipate that this model will be extremely useful for rigorous in vivo and ex vivo studies of astroglial GS function at the brain-region and single-cell levels., (© 2021 International League Against Epilepsy.)

Glutamate transport activities have been identified not only in the brain, but also in the liver, kidney, and intestine. Although glutamate transporter distributions in the central nervous system are fairly well known, there are still uncertainties with respect to the distribution of these transporters in peripheral organs. Quantitative information is mostly lacking, and few of the studies have included genetically modified animals as specificity controls. The present study provides validated qualitative and semi-quantitative data on the excitatory amino acid transporter (EAAT)1-3 subtypes in the mouse liver, kidney, and intestine. In agreement with the current view, we found high EAAT3 protein levels in the brush borders of both the distal small intestine and the renal proximal tubules. Neither EAAT1 nor EAAT2 was detected at significant levels in murine kidney or intestine. In contrast, the liver only expressed EAAT2 (but 2 C-terminal splice variants). EAAT2 was detected in the plasma membranes of perivenous hepatocytes. These cells also expressed glutamine synthetase. Conditional deletion of hepatic EAAT2 did neither lead to overt neurological disturbances nor development of fatty liver.

GLT-1 (EAAT2; slc1a2) is the major glutamate transporter in the brain, and is predominantly expressed in astrocytes, but at lower levels also in excitatory terminals. We generated a conditional GLT-1 knock-out mouse to uncover cell-type-specific functional roles of GLT-1. Inactivation of the GLT-1 gene was achieved in either neurons or astrocytes by expression of synapsin-Cre or inducible human GFAP-CreERT2. Elimination of GLT-1 from astrocytes resulted in loss of ∼80% of GLT-1 protein and of glutamate uptake activity that could be solubilized and reconstituted in liposomes. This loss was accompanied by excess mortality, lower body weight, and seizures suggesting that astrocytic GLT-1 is of major importance. However, there was only a small (15%) reduction that did not reach significance of glutamate uptake into crude forebrain synaptosomes. In contrast, when GLT-1 was deleted in neurons, both the GLT-1 protein and glutamate uptake activity that could be solubilized and reconstituted in liposomes were virtually unaffected. These mice showed normal survival, weight gain, and no seizures. However, the synaptosomal glutamate uptake capacity (Vmax) was reduced significantly (40%). In conclusion, astrocytic GLT-1 performs critical functions required for normal weight gain, resistance to epilepsy, and survival. However, the contribution of astrocytic GLT-1 to glutamate uptake into synaptosomes is less than expected, and the contribution of neuronal GLT-1 to synaptosomal glutamate uptake is greater than expected based on their relative protein expression. These results have important implications for the interpretation of the many previous studies assessing glutamate uptake capacity by measuring synaptosomal uptake., (Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/355187-15$15.00/0.)

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurologic diseases, yet approximately one-third of affected patients do not respond to anticonvulsive drugs that target neurons or neuronal circuits. Reactive astrocytes are commonly found in putative epileptic foci and have been hypothesized to be disease contributors because they lose essential homeostatic capabilities. However, since brain pathology induces astrocytes to become reactive, it is difficult to distinguish whether astrogliosis is a cause or a consequence of epileptogenesis. We now present a mouse model of genetically induced, widespread chronic astrogliosis after conditional deletion of β1-integrin (Itgβ1). In these mice, astrogliosis occurs in the absence of other pathologies and without BBB breach or significant inflammation. Electroencephalography with simultaneous video recording revealed that these mice develop spontaneous seizures during the first six postnatal weeks of life and brain slices show neuronal hyperexcitability. This was not observed in mice with neuronal-targeted β1-integrin deletion, supporting the hypothesis that astrogliosis is sufficient to induce epileptic seizures. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from astrocytes further suggest that the heightened excitability was associated with impaired astrocytic glutamate uptake. Moreover, the relative expression of the cation-chloride cotransporters (CCC) NKCC1 (Slc12a2) and KCC2 (Slc12a5), which are responsible for establishing the neuronal Cl(-) gradient that governs GABAergic inhibition were altered and the NKCC1 inhibitor bumetanide eliminated seizures in a subgroup of mice. These data suggest that a shift in the relative expression of neuronal NKCC1 and KCC2, similar to that observed in immature neurons during development, may contribute to astrogliosis-associated seizures., (Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/353330-16$15.00/0.)

The EAAT2 glutamate transporter, accounts for >90% of hippocampal glutamate uptake. Although EAAT2 is predominantly expressed in astrocytes, ∼10% of EAAT2 molecules are found in axon terminals. Despite the lower level of EAAT2 expression in glutamatergic terminals, when hippocampal slices are incubated with low concentration of d-aspartate (an EAAT2 substrate), axon terminals accumulate d-aspartate as quickly as astroglia. This implies an unexplained mismatch between the distribution of EAAT2 protein and of EAAT2-mediated transport activity. One hypothesis is that (1) heteroexchange of internal substrate with external substrate is considerably faster than net uptake and (2) terminals favor heteroexchange because of high levels of internal glutamate. However, it is currently unknown whether heteroexchange and uptake have similar or different rates. To address this issue, we used a reconstituted system to compare the relative rates of the two processes in rat and mice. Net uptake was sensitive to changes in the membrane potential and was stimulated by external permeable anions in agreement with the existence of an uncoupled anion conductance. By using the latter, we also demonstrate that the rate of heteroexchange also depends on the membrane potential. Additionally, our data further suggest the presence of a sodium leak in EAAT2. By incorporating the new findings in our previous model of glutamate uptake by EAAT2, we predict that the voltage sensitivity of exchange is caused by the voltage-dependent third Na(+) binding. Further, both our experiments and simulations suggest that the relative rates of net uptake and heteroexchange are comparable in EAAT2., (Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3413472-14$15.00/0.)

The physiological roles of the betaine/GABA transporter (BGT1; slc6a12) are still being debated. BGT1 is a member of the solute carrier family 6 (the neurotransmitter, sodium symporter transporter family) and mediates cellular uptake of betaine and GABA in a sodium- and chloride-dependent process. Most of the studies of BGT1 concern its function and regulation in the kidney medulla where its role is best understood. The conditions here are hostile due to hyperosmolarity and significant concentrations of NH4Cl and urea. To withstand the hyperosmolarity, cells trigger osmotic adaptation, involving concentration of a transcriptional factor TonEBP/NFAT5 in the nucleus, and accumulate betaine and other osmolytes. Data from renal cells in culture, primarily MDCK, revealed that transcriptional regulation of BGT1 by TonEBP/NFAT5 is relatively slow. To allow more acute control of the abundance of BGT1 protein in the plasma membrane, there is also post-translation regulation of BGT1 protein trafficking which is dependent on intracellular calcium and ATP. Further, betaine may be important in liver metabolism as a methyl donor. In fact, in the mouse the liver is the organ with the highest content of BGT1. Hepatocytes express high levels of both BGT1 and the only enzyme that can metabolize betaine, namely betaine:homocysteine -S-methyltransferase (BHMT1). The BHMT1 enzyme removes a methyl group from betaine and transfers it to homocysteine, a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Finally, BGT1 has been proposed to play a role in controlling brain excitability and thereby represents a target for anticonvulsive drug development. The latter hypothesis is controversial due to very low expression levels of BGT1 relative to other GABA transporters in brain, and also the primary location of BGT1 at the surface of the brain in the leptomeninges. These issues are discussed in detail.

Objectives: Loss of glutamate from cardiomyocytes during ischaemia may aggravate ischaemia-reperfusion injury in open heart surgery. This may be due to reversal of excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs). However, the expression of such transporters in cardiomyocytes is ambiguous and quantitative data are lacking. Our objective was to study whether EAATs were expressed in the rat heart and to study whether blocking of transporter operation during cardiac ischaemia could be beneficial., Methods: We used TaqMan real-time PCR and immunoisolation followed by western blotting to unequivocally identify EAAT subtypes in rat hearts. We used a novel high-affinity non-transportable competitive inhibitor, named LL-TBOA [(2S,3S)-3-(3-(6-(6-(2-(2-(2-(2-(2-aminoethoxy)ethoxy)-ethoxy)ethoxy) acetamido)hexanamido)- hexanamido)-5-(4-(trifluoromethyl)benzamido)benzyloxy) aspartic acid], to block EAAT-mediated transport during global ischaemia and reperfusion of isolated rat hearts., Results: Rat hearts expressed EAAT subtypes 1 and 3, while subtypes 2 and 4 were not detected. Hearts were isolated and perfused with 1.6 µM LL-TBOA for 5 min before 30 min of induced global ischaemia and 60 min of reperfusion (n = 8). Control hearts were perfused either with the solvent dimethylsulfoxide 3.5 mM (n = 7) or with no pretreatment (n = 8). Infarct size was evaluated by triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining. LL-TBOA reduced infarct size from 33 ± 14 to 20 ± 5% (mean ± SD) (P = 0.015). Dimethylsulfoxide alone had no effect (35 ± 2%). Reperfusion arrhythmias were reduced by LL-TBOA (P = 0.009), but not by dimethylsulfoxide alone., Conclusion: Rat hearts express EAAT1 and EAAT3, but the mRNA levels are, respectively, ∼ 25 and 200 times lower than in the brain. Addition of LL-TBOA has a beneficial effect against ischaemia-reperfusion injury.

Islet function is incompletely understood in part because key steps in glutamate handling remain undetermined. The glutamate (excitatory amino acid) transporter 2 (EAAT2; Slc1a2) has been hypothesized to (a) provide islet cells with glutamate, (b) protect islet cells against high extracellular glutamate concentrations, (c) mediate glutamate release, or (d) control the pH inside insulin secretory granules. Here we floxed the EAAT2 gene to produce the first conditional EAAT2 knock-out mice. Crossing with Nestin-cyclization recombinase (Cre) eliminated EAAT2 from the brain, resulting in epilepsy and premature death, confirming the importance of EAAT2 for brain function and validating the genetic construction. Crossing with insulin-Cre lines (RIP-Cre and IPF1-Cre) to obtain pancreas-selective deletion did not appear to affect survival, growth, glucose tolerance, or β-cell number. We found (using TaqMan RT-PCR, immunoblotting, immunocytochemistry, and proteome analysis) that the EAAT2 levels were too low to support any of the four hypothesized functions. The proteome analysis detected more than 7,000 islet proteins of which more than 100 were transporters. Although mitochondrial glutamate transporters and transporters for neutral amino acids were present at high levels, all other transporters with known ability to transport glutamate were strikingly absent. Glutamate-metabolizing enzymes were abundant. The level of glutamine synthetase was 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of glutaminase. Taken together this suggests that the uptake of glutamate by islets from the extracellular fluid is insignificant and that glutamate is intracellularly produced. Glutamine synthetase may be more important for islets than assumed previously.

The mammalian genome contains four genes encoding GABA transporters (GAT1, slc6a1; GAT2, slc6a13; GAT3, slc6a11; BGT1, slc6a12) and five glutamate transporter genes (EAAT1, slc1a3; EAAT2, slc1a2; EAAT3, slc1a1; EAAT4, slc1a6; EAAT5, slc1a7). These transporters keep the extracellular levels of GABA and excitatory amino acids low and provide amino acids for metabolic purposes. The various transporters have different properties both with respect to their transport functions and with respect to their ability to act as ion channels. Further, they are differentially regulated. To understand the physiological roles of the individual transporter subtypes, it is necessary to obtain information on their distributions and expression levels. Quantitative data are important as the functional capacity is limited by the number of transporter molecules. The most important and most abundant transporters for removal of transmitter glutamate in the brain are EAAT2 (GLT-1) and EAAT1 (GLAST), while GAT1 and GAT3 are the major GABA transporters in the brain. EAAT3 (EAAC1) does not appear to play a role in signal transduction, but plays other roles. Due to their high uncoupled anion conductance, EAAT4 and EAAT5 seem to be acting more like inhibitory glutamate receptors than as glutamate transporters. GAT2 and BGT1 are primarily expressed in the liver and kidney, but are also found in the leptomeninges, while the levels in brain tissue proper are too low to have any impact on GABA removal, at least in normal young adult mice. The present review will provide summary of what is currently known and will also discuss some methodological pitfalls.

Glutamate transporters (GLT-1, GLAST, EAAC1) limit the actions of excitatory amino acids. Because a disturbed transporter operation can cause or aggravate neurological diseases, transporters are of considerable neuropathological interest. Human samples, however, are seldom obtained fresh. Here, we used mice brains to study how fast glutamate transporters are degraded after death. Immunoblots showed that terminal GLT-1 epitopes (within residues 1-26 and 518-573) had mostly disappeared after 24 hr. GLAST termini (1-25 and 522-543) degraded slightly slower. In contrast, epitopes within central parts of GLT-1 (493-508) and the EAAC1 C-terminus (510-523) were readily detectable after 72 hr. The decline in immunoreactivity of the GLT-1 and GLAST termini was also seen in tissue sections, but proteolysis did not happen synchronously in all cells. At 24 hr, scattered cells remained strongly immunopositive, while the majority of cells were completely immunonegative. GLAST and GLT-1 co-localized in neocortical tissue, but at 12 hr, many GLAST-positive cells had lost the GLT-1 termini. The uneven disappearance of labeling was not observed with the antibodies to GLT-1 residues 493-508. The immunoreactivity to this epitope correlated better with the reported glutamate uptake activity. Thus, postmortem delay may affect epitopes differently, possibly causing erroneous conclusions about relative expression levels.

The GABA transporters (GAT1, GAT2, GAT3, and BGT1) have mostly been discussed in relation to their potential roles in controlling the action of transmitter GABA in the nervous system. We have generated the first mice lacking the GAT2 (slc6a13) gene. Deletion of GAT2 (both mRNA and protein) neither affected growth, fertility, nor life span under nonchallenging rearing conditions. Immunocytochemistry showed that the GAT2 protein was predominantly expressed in the plasma membranes of periportal hepatocytes and in the basolateral membranes of proximal tubules in the renal cortex. This was validated by processing tissue from wild-type and knockout mice in parallel. Deletion of GAT2 reduced liver taurine levels by 50%, without affecting the expression of the taurine transporter TAUT. These results suggest an important role for GAT2 in taurine uptake from portal blood into liver. In support of this notion, GAT2-transfected HEK293 cells transported [(3)H]taurine. Furthermore, most of the uptake of [(3)H]GABA by cultured rat hepatocytes was due to GAT2, and this uptake was inhibited by taurine. GAT2 was not detected in brain parenchyma proper, excluding a role in GABA inactivation. It was, however, expressed in the leptomeninges and in a subpopulation of brain blood vessels. Deletion of GAT2 increased brain taurine levels by 20%, suggesting a taurine-exporting role for GAT2 in the brain.

The extracellular levels of excitatory amino acids are kept low by the action of the glutamate transporters. Glutamate/aspartate transporter (GLAST) and glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) are the most abundant subtypes and are essential for the functioning of the mammalian CNS, but the contribution of the EAAC1 subtype in the clearance of synaptic glutamate has remained controversial, because the density of this transporter in different tissues has not been determined. We used purified EAAC1 protein as a standard during immunoblotting to measure the concentration of EAAC1 in different CNS regions. The highest EAAC1 levels were found in the young adult rat hippocampus. Here, the concentration of EAAC1 was ∼0.013 mg/g tissue (∼130 molecules μm⁻³), 100 times lower than that of GLT-1. Unlike GLT-1 expression, which increases in parallel with circuit formation, only minor changes in the concentration of EAAC1 were observed from E18 to adulthood. In hippocampal slices, photolysis of MNI-D-aspartate (4-methoxy-7-nitroindolinyl-D-aspartate) failed to elicit EAAC1-mediated transporter currents in CA1 pyramidal neurons, and D-aspartate uptake was not detected electron microscopically in spines. Using EAAC1 knock-out mice as negative controls to establish antibody specificity, we show that these relatively small amounts of EAAC1 protein are widely distributed in somata and dendrites of all hippocampal neurons. These findings raise new questions about how so few transporters can influence the activation of NMDA receptors at excitatory synapses.

The biomedical research community relies directly or indirectly on immunocytochemical data. Unfortunately, validation of labeling specificity is difficult. A common specificity test is the preadsorption test. This test was intended for testing crude antisera but is now frequently used to validate monoclonal and affinity purified polyclonal antibodies. Here, the authors assess the power of this test. Nine affinity purified antibodies to different epitopes on 3 proteins (EAAT3, slc1a1; EAAT2, slc1a2; BGT1, slc6a12) were tested on samples (tissue sections and Western blots with or without fixation). The selected antibodies displayed some degree of cross-reactivity as defined by labeling of samples from knockout mice. The authors show that antigen preadsorption blocked all labeling of both wild-type and knockout samples, implying that preadsorption also blocked binding to cross-reactive epitopes. They show how this can give an illusion of specificity and illustrate sensitivity-specificity relationships, the importance of good negative controls, that fixation can create new epitopes, and that cross-reacting epitopes present in sections may not be present on Western blots and vice versa. In conclusion, they argue against uncritical use of the preadsorption test and, in doing so, address a number of other issues related to immunocytochemistry specificity testing.

The Na(+)- and Cl(-)-dependent GABA-betaine transporter (BGT1) has received attention mostly as a protector against osmolarity changes in the kidney and as a potential controller of the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain. Nevertheless, the cellular distribution of BGT1, and its physiological importance, is not fully understood. Here we have quantified mRNA levels using TaqMan real-time PCR, produced a number of BGT1 antibodies, and used these to study BGT1 distribution in mice. BGT1 (protein and mRNA) is predominantly expressed in the liver (sinusoidal hepatocyte plasma membranes) and not in the endothelium. BGT1 is also present in the renal medulla, where it localizes to the basolateral membranes of collecting ducts (particularly at the papilla tip) and the thick ascending limbs of Henle. There is some BGT1 in the leptomeninges, but brain parenchyma, brain blood vessels, ependymal cells, the renal cortex, and the intestine are virtually BGT1 deficient in 1- to 3-mo-old mice. Labeling specificity was assured by processing tissue from BGT1-deficient littermates in parallel as negative controls. Addition of 2.5% sodium chloride to the drinking water for 48 h induced a two- to threefold upregulation of BGT1, tonicity-responsive enhancer binding protein, and sodium-myo-inositol cotransporter 1 (slc5a3) in the renal medulla, but not in the brain and barely in the liver. BGT1-deficient and wild-type mice appeared to tolerate the salt treatment equally well, possibly because betaine is one of several osmolytes. In conclusion, this study suggests that BGT1 plays its main role in the liver, thereby complementing other betaine-transporting carrier proteins (e.g., slc6a20) that are predominantly expressed in the small intestine or kidney rather than the liver.

The sodium-dependent inorganic phosphate transporter NaPi-IIa is expressed in the kidney. Here, the authors used a polyclonal antiserum raised against NaPi-IIa- and NaPi-IIa-deficient mice to characterize its expression in nervous tissue. Western blots showed that a NaPi-IIa immunoreactive band (~90 kDa) was only present in wild-type kidney membranes and not in kidney knockout or wild-type brain membranes. In the water-soluble fraction of wild-type and knockout brains, another band (~50 kDa) was observed; this band was not detected in the kidney. Light and electron microscopic immunohistochemistry using the NaPi-IIa antibodies showed immunolabeling of kidney tubules in wild-type but not knockout mice. In the brain, labeling of presynaptic nerve terminals was present also in NaPi-IIa-deficient mice. This labeling pattern was also produced by the NaPi-IIa preimmune serum. The authors conclude that the polyclonal antiserum is specific toward NaPi-IIa in the kidney, but in the brain, immunolabeling is caused by a cross-reaction of the antiserum with an unknown cytosolic protein that is not present in the kidney. This tissue-specific cross-reactivity highlights a potential pitfall when validating antibody specificity using knockout mouse-derived tissue other than the specific tissue of interest and underlines the utility of specificity testing using preimmune sera.

To elucidate the possible roles of the CNS neurotransmitters glycine and GABA in neuroendocrine paracrine signalling, we investigated their localizations, and those of their transport proteins, by confocal immunofluorescence and quantitative post-embedding immuno-electron microscopy in the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. We show that A-cells contain glycine in synaptic-like microvesicles as well as in secretory granules. A-cells express the macromolecules necessary to: (1) concentrate glycine within both organelle types before release (the vesicular GABA/glycine transporter VGAT=VIAAT); and to (2) take up the transmitter from the extracellular space (the plasma membrane glycine transporter GLYT2). Also B-cells have glycine in their microvesicles and granules, but the microvesicle/cytosol ratio is lower than in A-cells, consistent with the presence of GABA (which competes with glycine for vesicular uptake) in the cytosol at a much higher concentration in B-cells than in A-cells. Both A- and B-cells contain GABA in their microvesicles and secretory granules, and the membranes of the two organelle types contain VGAT in both cell types. A-cells as well as B-cells express a plasma membrane transporter GAT3 that mediates uptake of GABA. The localization of VGAT in the cores of A-cell secretory granules, and in the secretory granule membranes in both cell types, indicates novel aspects of the mechanisms for release of glycine and GABA. The discovery that both A- and B-cells possess the molecular machinery for the evoked release of both glycine and GABA from synaptic-like microvesicles suggests that both of the principal inhibitory transmitters in the brain participate in paracrine signalling in the pancreas.

Glutamate functions as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS) and neuromuscular junctions in insects. High-affinity glutamate transporters are responsible for keeping the resting levels of excitatory amino acids below the synaptic activation threshold by removing them from the extracellular fluid, thereby preventing them from reaching toxic levels. Peptides representing the N- and C-terminal regions of a glutamate transporter cloned from the cabbage looper caterpillar (Trichoplusia ni) were synthesized and used to generate polyclonal antibodies. The antibodies produced immunohistochemical staining in both muscular and nervous system T. ni tissues. Neuromuscular junctions in the skeletal muscles produced the most intense labelling, but no visceral muscle or sensory nerves were labelled. In the CNS, the neuropile of the ganglia, but not the connectives, gave a diffuse staining. Electron microscopical examination of ganglia and neuromuscular junctions showed that the plasma membrane of glial cells, but not that of neurons was labelled, in agreement with the notion that most of the glutamate uptake sites in this insect are in glial cells.

We have investigated the functional impact of a naturally occurring mutation of the human glutamate transporter GLT1 (EAAT2), which had been detected in a patient with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The mutation involves a substitution of the putative N-linked glycosylation site asparagine 206 by a serine residue (N206S) and results in reduced glycosylation of the transporter and decreased uptake activity. Electrophysiological analysis of N206S revealed a pronounced reduction in transport rate compared with wild-type, but there was no alteration in the apparent affinities for glutamate and sodium. In addition, no change in the sensitivity for the specific transport inhibitor dihydrokainate was observed. However, the decreased rate of transport was associated with a reduction of the N206S transporter in the plasma membrane. Under ionic conditions, which favor the reverse operation mode of the transporter, N206S exhibited an increased reverse transport capacity. Furthermore, if coexpressed in the same cell, N206S manifested a dominant negative effect on the wild-type GLT1 activity, whereas it did not affect wild-type EAAC1. These findings provide evidence for a role of the N-linked glycosylation in both cellular trafficking and transport function. The resulting alteration in glutamate clearance capacity likely contributes to excitotoxicity that participates in motor neuron degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

A transporter thought to mediate accumulation of GABA into synaptic vesicles has recently been cloned (McIntire et al., 1997). This vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT), the first vesicular amino acid transporter to be molecularly identified, differs in structure from previously cloned vesicular neurotransmitter transporters and defines a novel gene family. Here we use antibodies specific for N- and C-terminal epitopes of VGAT to localize the protein in the rat CNS. VGAT is highly concentrated in the nerve endings of GABAergic neurons in the brain and spinal cord but also in glycinergic nerve endings. In contrast, hippocampal mossy fiber boutons, which although glutamatergic are known to contain GABA, lack VGAT immunoreactivity. Post-embedding immunogold quantification shows that the protein specifically associates with synaptic vesicles. Triple labeling for VGAT, GABA, and glycine in the lateral oliva superior revealed a higher expression of VGAT in nerve endings rich in GABA, with or without glycine, than in others rich in glycine only. Although the great majority of nerve terminals containing GABA or glycine are immunopositive for VGAT, subpopulations of nerve endings rich in GABA or glycine appear to lack the protein. Additional vesicular transporters or alternative modes of release may therefore contribute to the inhibitory neurotransmission mediated by these two amino acids.

The role of transporters in shaping the glutamate concentration in the extracellular space after synaptic release is controversial because of their slow cycling and because diffusion alone gives a rapid removal. The transporter densities have been measured electrophysiologically, but these data are from immature brains and do not give precise information on the concentrations of the individual transporter subtypes. Here we show by quantitative immunoblotting that the numbers of the astroglial glutamate transporters GLAST (EAAT1) and GLT (EAAT2) are 3200 and 12,000 per micrometer3 tissue in the stratum radiatum of adult rat hippocampus (CA1) and 18,000 and 2800 in the cerebellar molecular layer, respectively. The total astroglial cell surface is 1.4 and 3.8 m2/cm3 in the two regions, respectively, implying average densities of GLAST and GLT molecules in the membranes around 2300 and 8500 micrometer-2 in the former and 4700 and 740 micrometer-2 in the latter region. The total concentration of glial glutamate transporters in both regions corresponds to three to five times the estimated number of glutamate molecules in one synaptic vesicle from each of all glutamatergic synapses. However, the role of glial glutamate transporters in limiting synaptic spillover is likely to vary between the two regions because of differences in the distribution of astroglia. Synapses are completely ensheathed and separated from each other by astroglia in the cerebellar molecular layer. In contrast, synapses in hippocampus (stratum radiatum) are only contacted by astroglia and are often found side by side without intervening glial processes.

To address the question of the relative contributions of glial and neuronal glutamate transport in the vertebrate CNS, we studied the distribution of forebrain glutamate transporters in rat hippocampal microcultures, a preparation in which physiological functions of glutamate transporters have been well characterized. Two of the three transporters, GLAST (EAAT1) and EAAC1 (EAAT3), are localized to microculture glia and neurons, respectively, as expected. However, we find strong immunoreactivity for the third glutamate transporter GLT-1 (EAAT2), a putatively glial transporter, in microculture neurons and in a small subset of microculture glia. Indistinguishable immunohistochemical staining patterns for GLT-1 were obtained with antibodies directed against both the N terminal and C terminal of the GLT-1 protein. Double-labeling experiments suggest that neuronal GLT-1 protein is primarily localized to the dendrites of excitatory neurons. Neuronal electrogenic transport currents in response to D-aspartate applications were occluded by the selective GLT-1 inhibitor dihydrokainate. In contrast, glia exhibited a larger transporter current density than did neurons, and the glial transport current was less sensitive to dihydrokainate. Neuronal transport currents were potentiated less than were glial currents when the chaotropic anion thiocyanate was substituted for gluconate in the whole-cell recording pipette, consistent with the previously reported lower anion permeability of EAAC1 and GLT-1 compared with that of GLAST. After microculture glia were rendered nonviable, excitatory autaptic currents (EACs) were prolonged in the presence of dihydrokainate, suggesting that neuronal GLT-1 is capable of participating in the clearance of synaptically released glutamate. Our results suggest that the initially proposed characterization of GLT-1 as a purely glial transporter is too simplistic and that under certain conditions functional GLT-1 protein can be expressed in brain neurons. The study suggests that changes in GLT-1 levels that occur with pathology or experimental manipulations cannot be assumed to be glial.

Antibodies to an excitatory amino acid transporter (EAAT4) label a glycoprotein of approximately 65 kDa strongly in the cerebellum and weakly in the forebrain. Cross-linking of cerebellar proteins with bis(sulfosuccinimidyl) suberate before solubilization causes dimer bands of EAAT4 and both dimer and trimer bands of the other glutamate transporters GLAST (EAAT1) and GLT (EAAT2) to appear on immunoblots. In contrast to GLAST, GLT, and EAAC (EAAT3), EAAT4 is unevenly distributed in the cerebellar molecular layer, being strongly expressed in parasagittal zones. It is located in cerebellar Purkinje cells, and the highest concentrations are seen in ones expressing high levels of zebrin II (aldolase C). The labeling of Purkinje cell spines and thin dendrites is stronger than that of large diameter dendrites and cell bodies. EAAT4 is present at low concentrations in the synaptic membrane, but is highly enriched in the parts of the dendritic and spine membranes facing astrocytes (which express GLAST and GLT) compared with parts facing neuronal membranes, suggesting a functional relationship with glial glutamate transporters. The presence of EAAT4 in intracellular cisterns and multivesicular organelles may reflect turnover of transporter in the plasma membrane. The total Purkinje cell spine surface and the EAAT4 concentration were found to be 1.1 m2/cm3 and 0.2 mg/cm3, respectively, in the molecular layer, corresponding to 1800 molecules/microm2. The juxtasynaptic location of EAAT4 may explain electrophysiological observations predicting the presence of a neuronal glutamate transporter near the release site at a Purkinje cell spine synapse. EAAT4 may function as a combined transporter and inhibitory glutamate receptor.

Inducible expression of the mammalian glial cell glutamate transporter GLT-1 has been established in a CHO cell line selected for low endogenous Na+-dependent glutamate uptake by [3H]aspartate suicide selection. Culturing the cells in doxycycline-containing medium, to activate GLT-1 expression via the Tet-On system, increased uptake of the GLT-1 substrate D-aspartate 280-fold, and increased cell size. Applying glutamate to whole-cell clamped, doxycycline-treated cells evoked a transporter-mediated current with characteristics appropriate for GLT-1. This cell line provides a useful tool for further examination of the electrical, biochemical and pharmacological properties of GLT-1, the most abundant glutamate transporter in the brain.

Removal of excitatory amino acids from the extracellular fluid is essential for synaptic transmission and for avoiding excitotoxicity. The removal is accomplished by glutamate transporters located in the plasma membranes of both neurons and astroglia. The uptake system consists of several different transporter proteins that are carefully regulated, indicating more refined functions than simple transmitter inactivation. Here we show by chemical cross-linking, followed by electrophoresis and immunoblotting, that three rat brain glutamate transporter proteins (GLAST, GLT and EAAC) form homomultimers. The multimers exist not only in intact brain membranes but also after solubilization and after reconstitution in liposomes. Increasing the cross-linker concentration increased the immunoreactivity of the bands corresponding to trimers at the expense of the dimer and monomer bands. However, the immunoreactivities of the dimer bands did not disappear, indicating a mixture of dimers and trimers. GLT and GLAST do not complex with each other, but as demonstrated by double labeling post-embedding electron microscopic immunocytochemistry, they co-exist side by side in the same astrocytic cell membranes. The oligomers are held together noncovalently in vivo. In vitro, oxidation induces formation of covalent bonds (presumably -S-S-) between the subunits of the oligomers leading to the appearance of oligomer bands on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Immunoprecipitation experiments suggest that GLT is the quantitatively dominant glutamate transporter in the brain. Radiation inactivation analysis gives a molecular target size of the functional complex corresponding to oligomeric structure. We postulate that the glutamate transporters operate as homomultimeric complexes.

The reuptake of glutamate in neurons and astrocytes terminates excitatory signals and prevents the persistence of excitotoxic levels of glutamate in the synaptic cleft. This process is inhibited by oxygen radicals and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Here we show that another biological oxidant, peroxynitrite (ONOO-), formed by combination of superoxide (O2-) and nitric oxide (NO), potently inhibits glutamate uptake by purified or recombinant high affinity glutamate transporters reconstituted in liposomes. ONOO- reduces selectively the Vmax of transport; its action is fast (reaching > or = 90% within 20 s), dose-dependent (50% inhibition at 50 microM), persistent upon ONOO- (or by product) removal, and insensitive to the presence of the lipid antioxidant vitamin E in the liposomal membranes. Therefore, it likely depends on direct interaction of ONOO- with the glutamate transporters. Three distinct recombinant glutamate transporters from the rat brain, GLT1, GLAST, and EAAC1, exhibit identical sensitivity to ONOO . H2O2 also inhibits reconstituted transport, and its action matches that of ONOO- on all respects; however, this is observed only with 5-10 mM H202 and after prolonged exposure (10 min) in highly oxygenated buffer. NO, released from NO donors (up to 10 mM), does not modify reconstituted glutamate uptake, although in parallel conditions it promotes cGMP formation in synaptosomal cytosolic fraction. Overall, our results suggest that the glutamate transporters contain conserved sites in their structures conferring vulnerability to ONOO- and other oxidants.

The glutamate transporters GLT-1 and GLAST were studied by immunogold labeling on ultrathin sections of rat brain tissue embedded in acrylic resins at low temperature after freeze substitution. Both proteins were selective markers of astrocytic plasma membranes. GLT-1 was much higher in hippocampal astrocytes than in cerebellar astrocytes. Astroglial membrane GLAST densities ranked as follows: Bergmann > cerebellar granular layer approximately hippocampus > cerebellar white matter. No astrocyte appeared unlabeled. Astrocytic membranes facing capillaries, pia, or stem dendrites were lower in glutamate transporters than those facing nerve terminals, axons, and spines. Parallel fiber boutons (glutamatergic) synapsin on interneuron dendritic shafts were surrounded by lower transporter densities than those synapsing on Purkinje cell spines. Our findings suggest the localizations of glutamate transporters are carefully regulated.

Glutamate is believed to be the major excitatory transmitter in the mammalian central nervous system. Keeping the extracellular concentration of glutamate low, the glutamate transporters are required for normal brain function. Arachidonic acid (AA) inhibits glutamate uptake in relatively intact preparations (cells, tissue slices, and synaptosomes (Rhoads, D.E., Ockner, R. K., Peterson, N. A., and Raghupathy, E. (1983) Biochemistry 22, 1965-1970 and Volterra, A., Trotti, D., Cassutti, P., Tromba, C., Salvaggio, A., Melcangi, R. C., and Racagni, G. (1992b) J. Neurochem. 59, 600-606). The present study demonstrates that the effect of AA occurs also in a reconstituted system, consisting of a purified glutamate transporter protein incorporated into artificial cell membranes (liposomes). The characteristics of the AA effect in this system and in intact cells are similar with regard to specificity, sensitivity, time course, changes in Vmax, and affinity. AA-ethyl ester is inactive, suggesting that the free carboxylic group is required for inhibitory activity. When incubated with proteoliposomes, AA (300 microM, 15 min) mostly partitions to the lipid phase (lipid/water about 95:5). However, uptake inhibition is abolished by rapid dilution (6.5-fold) of the incubation medium (water phase), a procedure that does not modify the amount of AA associated with lipids. On the contrary, inhibition remains sustained if the same dilution volume contains as little as 5 microM AA, a concentration inactive before saturation of liposome lipids with 300 microM AA. The same degree of inhibition (60%) is obtained by 5 microM AA following preincubation with the inactive AA-ethyl ester (300 microM) instead of AA. The lipids apparently inactivate AA by extracting it from the water phase. The results suggest that AA acts on the transporter from the water phase rather than via the membrane. This could be true for other proteins as well since gamma-aminobutyric acid uptake is similarly affected by AA.

High affinity sodium- and potassium-coupled L-glutamate transport into presynaptic nerve terminals and fine glial processes removes the neurotransmitter from the synaptic cleft, thereby terminating glutamergic transmission. This report describes that the purified L-glutamate transporter from pig brain is phosphorylated by protein kinase C, predominantly at serine residues. Upon exposure of C6 cells, a cell line of glial origin, to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate, about a 2-fold stimulation of L-glutamate transport is observed within 30 min. Concomitantly, the level of phosphorylation increases with similar kinetics. The phorbol ester also stimulates L-glutamate transport in HeLa cells infected with a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing T7 RNA polymerase and transfected with pT7-GLT-1. The latter is a recently cloned rat brain glutamate transporter of glial origin. Mutation of serine 113 to asparagine does not affect the levels of expressed transport but abolishes its stimulation by the phorbol ester. To our knowledge, this is the first direct demonstration of the regulation of a neurotransmitter transporter by phosphorylation.

A monoclonal antibody (9C4) shows that an [Na(+)+K+]coupled glutamate transporter protein purified from rat brain runs electrophoretically as a wide band and is localized in neuroglial cell bodies and processes, but not in neurons. This confirms the findings with polyclonal antibodies [Neuroscience 51 (1992) 295-310], and shows that the apparent heterogeneity in relative molecular mass is accounted for by a single antigenic epitope. By testing several synthetic peptides derived from the deduced amino acid sequences of two cloned rat brain glutamate transporters, the antigenic epitope was identified as residing within the peptide TQSVYDDTKNHRESNSNQC (residues 518-536) of one of these [Nature 360 (1992) 464-467].

Synaptic transmission of most vertebrate synapses is thought to be terminated by rapid transport of the neurotransmitter into presynaptic nerve terminals or neuroglia. L-Glutamate is the major excitatory transmitter in brain and its transport represents the mechanism by which it is removed from the synaptic cleft and kept below toxic levels. Here we use an antibody against a glial L-glutamate transporter from rat brain to isolate a complementary DNA clone encoding this transporter. Expression of this cDNA in transfected HeLa cells indicates that L-glutamate accumulation requires external sodium and internal potassium and transport shows the expected stereospecificity. The cDNA sequence predicts a protein of 573 amino acids with 8-9 putative transmembrane alpha-helices. Database searches indicate that this protein is not homologous to any identified protein of mammalian origin, including the recently described superfamily of neurotransmitter transporters. This protein therefore seems to be a member of a new family of transport molecules.

A monoclonal mouse IgM antibody (Z8E9) was raised against the Na(+)-L-glutamate cotransporter from rat brain. In a preparation of brain plasma membrane vesicles, Z8E9 binds specifically to a polypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of 70,000 and inhibits Na+ gradient-dependent L-glutamate cotransport (up to 50%) in brain membrane vesicles. In the membrane vesicles, the antibody does not alter the membrane permeability for Na+ and K+ nor the Na+ gradient-dependent uptake of gamma-aminobutyric acid. Kinetic experiments showed that Z8E9 does not alter the K0.5 values for L-glutamate and Na+ activation of L-glutamate transport. However, an apparent cooperativity observed for L-glutamate activation was increased, and the Vmax of L-glutamate transport was decreased. Immunostaining of rat cerebellum identified antigenic sites of Z8E9 in Golgi epithelial cells and astrocytes (by light and electron microscopy), whereas no labeling at nerve terminals was detected. The data suggest that a component of a Na(+)-L-glutamate cotransporter subtype has been identified that is specific for glia cells in brain.

Uptake of [3H]L-glutamate into membrane vesicles prepared from either mouse cortical astrocyte cultures or synaptosomes was found to be an electrogenic sodium- and potassium-dependent transport process with saturable uptake kinetics. Pharmacological differences were revealed by using a variety of substrate analogues. L-trans-PDC inhibited the synaptosomal glutamate transport 2-4-fold stronger than the astroglial uptake. The substrate analogues DL-threo-beta-hydroxy-aspartate, DL-aspartate-beta-hydroxamate, L-aspartate and D-aspartate inhibited glutamate transport of astroglial and neuronal membrane vesicles in a distinctive manner, whereas D-glutamate, quisqualate and dihydrokainate had no effect in either case. Immunoblotting and immunocytochemical labeling with antibodies against the rat brain glutamate transporter revealed the selective reaction of a band at about 75 kDa mol. wt. and a specific pattern of astrocyte immunostaining.